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The golden glow of a perfect spring afternoon threw haloes around the blossoming trees as Zhao Yunlan wended his way through the Dragon City University campus. He was looking for a particular room in a little-used annex building while hoping to find Shen Wei coming back from a meeting that has already overrun by half an hour. Zhao Yunlan knew about the time and location because he'd had a peek in Shen Wei's meticulously kept planner—there had been a sketch of a map to this particular location—not because Shen Wei was expecting him. On the contrary—they’d thought their current case would keep the SID busy all night. Instead what their current case would do was take them out on a dawn bust. And as dawn couldn't be rushed, Zhao Yunlan had unexpected free time, which he couldn't wait to spend with Shen Wei.Zhao Yunlan was anticipating having to extricate Shen Wei from some dull meeting he was too polite to interrupt, or maybe catching him hurrying back with a stack of newly acquired professorial paperwork. He wasn't expecting to round a corner and catch a glimpse of Shen Wei rooted on the spot in a secluded patch of lawn. He looked like nothing as much as a particularly gorgeous Flower Tribe Yashou basking in the sun behind a screen of trees and bushes—if any Yashou wore immaculately tailored navy suits.Curiosity quelled Zhao Yunlan's first instinct to call Shen Wei's name, and the warm, slanted light was doing absolutely stunning things to his already beautiful profile. Was he sunning himself? Using some kind of Dixing power that Zhao Yunlan didn't know about? Zhao Yunlan carefully walked closer, and when he stepped off the path and onto the lawn he heard it—gentle strains of traditional music carried on the breeze from an open window somewhere. A combination of strings and woodwinds—silk and bamboo—playing an old, old melody. It stopped suddenly, to peals of laughter, only to start over again. Not a recording, then, but students practicing—and Shen Wei was riveted despite the interruption and the scattering of wrong notes Zhao Yunlan could pick out when he listened carefully.For a moment, Zhao Yunlan thought that if he were upstairs looking out, he would be able to see Shen Wei’s upturned face looking almost just the same it had that very first time he had glimpsed it. Then he crashed through a bush, and Shen Wei turned around in a fluid motion, looking far more composed than Zhao Yunlan would if someone had startled him out of a reverie. “Zhao Yunlan?” Shen Wei blinked in surprise, but his lips curved in a smile. That easy, comfortable joy at his own unexpected presence made Zhao Yunlan’s heart ache with love, and he grinned helplessly. “Hey.”Zhao Yunlan caught Shen Wei up on why he was there rather than at the office. He was just about to suggest picking up some take-out and heading straight home when he noticed Shen Wei’s gaze drifting up to the open window. The strings of an erhu and the reedy voice of a di were each repeating a few bars of the melody until someone clapped and there was a round of laughter and chatter.“I didn’t know you liked this kind of music?” In fact, Zhao Yunlan couldn’t recall Shen Wei listening to any music at all around him—not in this time, at least. Back ten thousand years ago, there had been a few lively nights of singing and percussion and reed pipes, everyone’s spirits lifted by the energy and enthusiasm of the performance, if not its musical qualities.“Haixing music?”Zhao Yunlan had meant traditional instruments, but nodded, wanting to hear what Shen Wei had to say.“I always thought something was missing, in Haixing music,” Shen Wei said, apologetic. “But I—I’ve never heard it like this before. With the people playing—with so much life…”A terrible thought struck Zhao Yunlan. “You’ve never heard live music before?”Shen Wei looked almost embarrassed. “There are people playing in the street sometimes?”“The only live music you’ve heard before is busking?” Zhao Yunlan was appalled with himself—he should have known. Should have realized, and done something about it, because of course Shen Wei would never have taken the time to cultivate an interest in music. He’d never made a playlist for a crush, or experienced the giddy delight of a first concert, or spent hours talking to people about favorite bands and gigs or any of that. Because he’d come from Dixing, and had his duties and his cover identity and absolutely no time to just… enjoy things for himself.“And recordings, of course, but…” The melody picked up where the players had left off, and Shen Wei left the sentence unfinished, listening again. Listening to the music being played right then by people who were enjoying themselves together—a moment as bright and fleeting as the blossoming trees in the afternoon light. Zhao Yunlan enjoyed recorded music just fine, but he could see why that experience and this would be worlds apart for someone with Shen Wei’s senses. Zhao Yunlan looked around. There were no benches, but the lawn was very nicely kept, even in this remote corner of campus. Zhao Yunlan caught Shen Wei’s hand—had to wait for Shen Wei to decide he could humor him—and tugged him to a sunny spot the lengthening shadows wouldn’t reach for a while yet.There he let go of Shen Wei and flopped down on the grass. It felt nice to be off his feet, and the surface was both dry and comfortably springy, smelling like childhood summers. Shen Wei stood where Zhao Yunlan had left him, staring down in befuddlement. “Come on.” Zhao Yunlan patted the spot next to him. “What are you doing?” There was no censure in Shen Wei’s voice, only curiosity.“You can hear them really well from here,” Zhao Yunlan said, and started unwrapping a lollipop. “It’s a half past the hour—my guess is they’ll be at it for at least another thirty minutes.”“Oh,” Shen Wei said. “You want to—listen?”Zhao Yunlan shrugged off his leather jacket, and put it next to him, where Shen Wei still wasn’t sitting down. “Here.”Shen Wei protested, Zhao Yunlan insisted, and finally Shen Wei folded neatly into the grass and wrapped the jacket around Zhao Yunlan’s shoulders. “It’s getting chilly,” he said.It wasn’t, really—the sun was pleasant on his face—but Zhao Yunlan kept the jacket on to make Shen Wei happy. He leaned back so his head was resting against Shen Wei’s leg, and stretched out, exhaling deeply with satisfaction. “Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei said, not nearly sternly enough to really be scolding him for this public indecency. He shoved lightly at Zhao Yunlan’s head, but Zhao Yunlan leaned into his palm in one of Da Qing’s favorite moves.“I’ve been cooped up in the office for days,” Zhao Yunlan retorted, rolling the cherry lollipop around his mouth. “Let me enjoy some sun, okay?”Shen Wei sighed, but proved weak to the cat approach. Instead of pushing Zhao Yunlan’s head off his lap, Shen Wei’s fingers curled into his hair.Up in the rehearsal room they were playing the melody over again—it was flowing more smoothly now, he thought. Shen Wei’s face turned toward the open window, his expression growing rapt. Zhao Yunlan watched him listen, and smiled. He was going to have a look at concert listings later—or better yet, ask an old acquaintance who was an erhu player and passionate fan of traditional music what he should take Shen Wei to hear. But for now he was going to close his eyes and enjoy the spring air, and the fading rays of sunlight soaking into his skin, and Shen Wei’s hand caressing his hair.